Note from the Author: Hey guys, this is Elle. *sheepish smile* Some of you probably noticed that Billa actually failed to find the Ring on her way to Gollum's cave. I've fixed that little oversight now. Thank you for your patience. You're all marvelous, wonderful, and all sorts of majestic. Thanks so much for 11,000+ views! We'll do our very, very best to keep the story gloriously exciting.

Fourteen

It was in this moment of hopelessness that Gandalf returned, heralded by a flash of bright light that swept dwarves and goblins to the platform, knocked them momentarily senseless. The Great Goblin floundered at the edge a moment, and then, with a wail, plunged over, nearly taking Thorin with him.

"Take up arms!" the pointy-hatted silhouette of the wizard urged, Glamdring glowing palely in the dim light. "Fight!"

The dwarves struggled to their feet, scouring the platform for their weapons, while the goblins lay a while longer, still stunned. But Kili lay where he'd been thrown, gasping, curled up, eyes squeezed tightly shut.

Fili sat beside his brother, eyes watering as he recovered from his attempt to stand. His head was reeling and he felt like if he let go of his side, it would open up and spill his insides all over the platform. A ridiculous thought, of course, but it felt that way nonetheless. Fili had never seen another creature disemboweled, and the idea of it happening to him was ludicrous, as far as he was concerned. Still, having failed at standing, he turned his attention to his brother.

"Idiot," he growled, giving Kili's arm a halfhearted tug, trying to get him to sit up. "I told you not to..." When Kili rolled a little toward him, he saw the deep, bleeding gouges in his brother's back and arms. "Mahal's hammer... Don't you dare do this to me, Kili. Get up. Come on, get up. If I can get up, you can. Please, Kili."

Oin's hands were as steady as ever as he found them, though his face was twisted with worry. He pushed Fili out of the way and used his own jacket as an impromptu bandage, tying it around Kili's deepest injuries before pulling him upright and stuffing a bundle of dried herbs into the injured dwarf's mouth.

"Chew," he ordered, then turned to Fili. "Arm yourself, lad. We haven't time to lay about."

Billa slowly regained consciousness, feeling as though the world were spinning in lazy circles around the spot where she lay. She could feel blood in her hair, and her leg felt like someone had set her knee on fire, but the place where the break had been felt solid enough, so it couldn't be too bad.

At length, she heaved herself up and groaned softly. The silence bothered her more than the pain. There were no voices, no hands, no roughness in the world to tell her the dwarves were nearby. Just cold, smooth, damp stone. A chill crept into her, and Billa wasn't sure if it was the temperature, or the loneliness. Stumbling a little, but using the wall to keep herself upright, the hobbit followed the tunnel cautiously, unable to see in the pitch dark. More than once she tripped and fell, scraping her knees and hands against the stone and finding more patches of dirt and damp slime than she had ever wanted to encounter.

On one of these unfortunate trips to the ground, she found more than just slick stone and slime. Something hard and round was buried in the dirt under her fingers. It felt like a made-thing, rather than a natural thing, and without a second thought, she picked it up, rubbing it clean even though she couldn't see it. It was a ring, about the right size for her slender fingers. The darkness prevented her from inspecting her find, but she had a feeling that it was very precious, somehow. Billa pocketed the ring, pushing herself to her feet. Something clattered against the stone, and she felt a tug at her belt- and she remembered that she had her sword. As she drew the blade, she noticed with a certain amount of dread that it glowed pale blue in the darkness.

Gollum grunted, stoving the hapless goblin's head in with a few brutal strikes of a sharp stone. He'd found the little squeaker wandering down the tunnel toward his cave earlier, and grabbed him from behind wearing It. The Precious. His precious Ring. He'd thought he had killed it then, but it must have revived somehow in the interim whilst he'd been dragging it out to his rock, his home sweet island out in the middle of his cool, subterranean lake.

It was a spacious cavern, even by goblin standards, lit only by the luminescent green glow of huge, spotted mushrooms and a few purplish crystals growing from the rocky ceiling, reflecting an eerie glow on the flat, heavy-looking lake.

Then Gollum saw something. Down the main tunnel a ways, where he'd caught his meal earlier. A faint, bluish light. It bounced a little, growing weaker, than vanished altogether.

Mingled fear and curiosity awoke in him, and he turned from the dead goblin to his little black boat. It was more of a hollow log, really. He'd stolen it from the goblins long ago, smuggled it back down here so he could get out to his island with greater ease. It rode low in the water as he paddled silently to shore, his large, flat feet making no ripples as he went. He lay on the boat, listening, his breath whistling quietly past his sharpened teeth.

Finally, he saw it. Illuminated purplish-green and walking hesitantly toward him. A creature unlike anything he'd seen in... well, maybe he'd never seen anything like it before at all. It was small like him, but stouter, and had a mop of curly, light hair on its head and large, fluffy feet. Its clothes seemed odd - fine, colorful - nothing like what grimy, utilitarian rags the goblins wore, and it held a strange shiny knife out in front of it like a shield, trembling in the creature's pale, delicate hands.

Gollum's curiosity trampled his fear. "What issss it, my precious?" he hissed, leaping out of the boat on all fours. "What issss it?"

Billa heard the hissing and slapping of Gollum's huge, wet hands and feet against the rock. Without the light of her sword, she was blind- or she'd thought so. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the weird light. Mushrooms that glow. The halfling caught herself wondering what they tasted like, and if they would go well with that garlic the elves had used- it was a touch strong for her taste, but strong flavors weren't a bad thing.

"What issss it?"

Billa stiffened at the sound of a voice. "Who's there?" she all but shouted into the echoing cavern, terror thrilling through her, making it hard to focus.

No. This was what Kili warned me about. If I give in to the fear, then I'll be useless. Billa sucked in a deeper breath and tried to calm herself down. Movement attracted her attention and she swung her attention toward it. Her sword flashed in the semi-darkness, and so did something else. A pair of bulbous eyes, reflecting green-blue light, like a cat's.

Don't panic. Don't panic. You're armed, you have a sword, you know how to use it. Mostly.

"Who are you?" she asked, taking a step back and angling her blade at Gollum's skinny chest.

Gollum hissed as the shiny metal jutted toward him. He hadn't seen anything like it before, so smooth, so clean, so shiny, so... dangerous. Everything here was rough, dirty, rugged. Familiar. Not this. This puzzled him, and while he was still curious, his wariness made a resurgence. He sat back on his haunches, his bony, knobby hands shooting up protectively to shield his emaciated chest.

"What isss it, Precious? It's not a goblinses, no. Not an orcses. It must tells us, Precious. What issss it?!" His luminous eyes bulged out angrily, as if Billa were intentionally withholding information he desperately needed.

"I'm... I'm a hobbit." Billa was confused by this skinny, slimy creature that seemed far more interested in talking to itself than talking to her. It did, however, talk rather than stuff her in a cage, break her bones, or threaten to eat her. That was a nice change of pace. "My name is Billa Baggins, of the Shire." The dwarves were definitely rubbing off on her. "Of the Shire" hadn't been a part of her name before now. She took a breath and gripped the hilt of her sword more tightly. Letter opener indeed. She would show them that size didn't matter, when one was sharp enough. That was rather good, actually. Should put that in a song.

"Now, it's your turn. Who are you?"

"Bagginses?" Gollum croaked to himself. "What isss a Bagginses, Precious?" He frowned, his already wrinkled brow wrinkling even more. "And what isss a hobbitses?" His eyes brightened a little. "Is it... tasty? Is it good to eats, Precious? We hasn't tried hobbitses, has we? We wonders, yes, we wonders." He skittered around behind Billa, moving on all fours like some kind of whitish frog, licking his pale lips and hissing through widely spaced fangs. Perhaps if he were quick enough, he'd confuse the creature and its shiny, gleaming sword would be of no use.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew there was something different about this creature, something even more different than what he'd already noticed. More different than its colorful clothes and fluffy head and feet. Something he had known about long ago, long ago and far away, back when he was something... someone else. At the moment, just what that might be escaped him, but nonetheless, his curiosity was renewed. He'd find out just what the creature was... then he'd eat it.

Billa's relief was short-lived. Nope. Back to being threatened with eating again. She pivoted, keeping an eye on the creature like Fili had taught her. Speed of the hand, speed of the mind. Focus on the opponent, not on your stance. Stance will do you no good if you don't see the attack coming.

"Quit talking in riddles," she snapped, working hard to suppress the fear that clawed at her chest. "I'm not interested in being your supper- or whatever time of day it is. I just want to get out of this horrid place." What good telling the creature would do, she had no idea, but silence was never her default when under pressure.

Gollum started at this. A particular keyword the creature had said awoke something within him akin to excitement. "Riddles?!" he crooned, leaping about like a dog at the prospect of going for a walk, and ignoring whatever else the hobbit might've said afterward.

It had been so many years, so many long years since he'd riddled with anyone that the mere mention sent a thrill of pure joy throughout his body. Long ago, as one of the River Folk, before the Precious had come, he had daily played at riddles with all his friends and family. He'd always fancied himself as being quite good at it, and now the thought of showing off to this creature resulted in nothing short of elation. "Oh, we loves riddles. Does it wants to? Does it likes to play?" He cavorted about on the slimy rocks, cackling to himself, completely forgetting that he'd wanted to eat the creature not a moment before. Well, that part of him was still there, actually. It just wasn't the most dominant part right now.

"We has one! We has one!" He paused a moment, grinning, his pale blue eyes gleaming with delight. "What has roots as nobody sees... Up, up, up it goes, and yet... never grows?"

Billa was hard-pressed to keep up with the creature's train of thought. Eventually, as Gollum waited expectantly for the answer, she pieced together the fractured sentences. And with the revelation that this slimy frog-thing was intelligent enough to speak with her, rather than just itself, there came a glimmer of opportunity.

"You want to play? Well... alright. Alright, let's play at riddles. But if I win- if I win, you lead me out. Deal?" She paused, thinking about the riddle. It was an old one. Digging for the answer took some time, but she found it. "Hills. No- mountains. There's your answer. Do we have a deal? I win, you lead me out of the mountain?"

Gollum's eyes became suddenly clever again, his tone lowered to the same sinister croaking he'd used before. He turned away, as if speaking in confidence with himself. "And if it loses, then what? Well, if it loses, Precious, then we eats it!" This latter sentence ended with a pleased cackle, and he turned again to Billa. "If the Bagginses loses, we eats it whole." He tilted his head with a pleased smile, as if this were quite a good arrangement and Billa should have no trouble at all agreeing to it.

Billa hesitated. "You might have some trouble with that," she commented, eyeing the creature's emaciated body, "but good luck. You win, I'll be lunch, I win, you lead me out." Lowering her sword, she puffed out her cheeks and thought carefully.

"Um, alright, here's one. 'Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still.'" She edged toward the tunnel she'd entered through and leaned against a large rock, keeping a close eye on the creature. Riddles or not, she didn't trust it.

Gollum listened intently, running the words of the riddle through his addled brain like one might sift dirt again and again through a sieve, hoping to catch a nugget. At last, he made a connection. "Teeth? Teeeeeth!" He chortled triumphantly, seeing that he was right by the look on Billa's face. "But we only has... six!" He opened his mouth, flaunting them in all their hideous, grime-encrusted glory, then moved with a half-saunter to the other side of the hobbit. A sly smile crept onto his face. "Our turn. Alive without breath, cold as death, never thirsty, ever drinking, clad in mail, never clinking." His grin widened. The creature was sure to be stumped by this one.

The sight of the creature's teeth repulsed Billa, and she tried not to gag. Wouldn't do to offend her opponent.

Alive without breath... Unlike Gollum's first riddle, this was one she had never heard before. She frowned in concentration, shifting her weight from one furry foot to the other and pressing her back hard against the rock. Her knee ached and her head felt like there was a fire lit inside her skull.

"Give us the answer," taunted the frog-thing. When Gollum got too close, bulging eyes alight with excitement, she flinched and stumbled away from him, swinging her sword up so the pointy end was aimed at his chest again. With her eyes on him and her mind desperately running the words of the riddle through a list of water plants she was vaguely familiar with, she actually stepped into the icy water of the lake.

With a yelp, Billa jerked her foot out of the water again, her concentration completely broken. "Gimme a minute," she growled at the eager Gollum. "I need to think."

Gollum hissed at her, driven to great impatience by the taste of victory. "Is it crunchable? Is it juicy?" he asked, licking his lips again gleefully. "The Bagginses is stuck!"

"I'm thinking," Billa insisted, waving her sword at Gollum and taking another step back. Something writhed against her ankle in the icy water and the hobbit let out a squeal of disgust.

"It's just a fish," she assured herself. Gollum's outraged hiss brought her attention back to the riddle, and as she ran through it one more time, she started to grin. "Ha-ha! It's a fish. 'Alive without breath, as cold as death.' See? I told you I just needed a moment. Alright. My turn." The frog-creature was prowling around her now, muttering curses. She twisted to keep him in front of her, moving away from the water and trying to shake the damp out of her foot-hair.

"Um, well... uh- alright. 'A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.'"

Gollum paused, distracted by the new riddle. This one was a puzzler. Box. Key. Lid. Golden treasure. Gold. Gold? The Precious was gold. He grinned smugly to himself. Even if he lost the game, the Precious would still guarantee he had his meal. He'd never had anything gold before the Precious came. The only gold thing he could remember was... the sun. No, that wasn't it. Wait. His face lit up again.

"Eggses!" he exclaimed, dancing around Billa. "Wet, crunchy little eggses! Yes, yes!" He hadn't had them in so long, he'd almost forgotten their taste. When he'd calmed down a little, he scampered up a stone and crouched on his bony haunches. "Our turn. This thing all things devours- birds, beasts, trees, flowers. Bites iron, gnaws steel, grinds hard bones down to meal."

Billa actually sat down this time, her sword dangling between her knees as she gnawed on her lip. The silence was apparently too much for the impatient Gollum, who crept out of sight around dark rocks. His sing-song voice floated back to her, echoing creepily in the dim cavern.

"Is it tasty? Is it scrumptious?"

"Gimme a minute." Billa recognized the triumphant tone, and worked to suppress a thrill of fear. "I need to think."

"The Bagginses is ssstuck!" cackled Gollum, peering down at her from his unseen perch as she brought her sword up again.

"I'm not stuck!"

"It doesn't know the answers, Precious. It doesn't know."

"You haven't given me enough time." Billa snapped, fear getting the better of her as she searched desperately for the creature in the dark. "Give me more time!"

Gollum, mistaking Billa's words for the answer he'd sought, shook his fist furiously and howled up at the cavernous ceiling. "Very clever! Very clever, Bagginses!" He scrambled down from the rock, an unhappy frown etched into the deep lines of his pale face. "Last question, last chance." His voice was little better than a snarl now, so outraged was he that this tricksy creature had gotten his best riddle, the one that had always stumped his family and friends back home. "Ask us, Bagginses. It must asks us a last question!" When Billa paused, hemming and hawing a bit longer than Gollum's thinning patience could handle, he tensed, practically braying at her: "Ask us!"

Billa flinched away, patting down the front of her vest as though she had an extra riddle in her pocket. When her fingers encountered the right-hand pocket, rather than finding it empty, she realized there was something small between the layers of cloth. Distracted and frightened by the creature's furious screeching, she blurted out the first question that came to mind-

"What have I got in my pocket?"